Olivo Barbieri

Biography

Italian artist Olivo Barbieri is known for creating photographs that destabilize our understanding of humankind’s relationship to both urban and natural environments. Begun in 2004, Barbieri’s expansive series, site specific_, presents us with a unique vision of major cities such as Rome, Las Vegas, Shanghai, and New York. Taken from a helicopter and utilizing a large format camera with a tilt-shift lens, Barbieri’s photographs reduce these vast metropolises to mere models.

Subsequently turning his attention to the spectacle of nature in series such as The Waterfall Project (2006/7), Dolomites (2010), and Alps – Geographies and People (2012), Barbieri continues to play with the idea of scale. Adopting the same method of photographing from a helicopter, he reflects upon the entertainment value we now ascribe to natural phenomena such as waterfalls and mountains; waterfalls exist to be photographed by the masses, and mountains are to be ascended by fearless climbers.

Using additional devices, such as manipulating color, or deleting specific details, Barbieri aims to disrupt visual perception. The feeling produced when looking at his photographs is one of disorientation, akin to the vertigo one may feel when gazing down from a great height. In doing so, Barbieri highlights the ambiguity of all vision, ultimately forcing us to consider the relationship between reality and representation.

Born in Carpi, Italy, in 1954, Barbieri lives and works in Modena, Italy. In addition to his photographic work, Barbieri has directed critically acclaimed films, such as site specific_ROMA 04, site specific_SHANGHAI 04, and site specific_LAS VEGAS 05, which were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Tate Modern, London, the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, among other venues. His films were featured in the 2005 Toronto Film Festival and the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

Barbieri’s photographs have been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art, and the International Center of Photography, New York. He has participated in the Venice Biennial (1993, 1995, 1997, 2011, 2013), the Prague Biennial (2009), the Seville Biennial (2006), and most recently in the Biennial of Photography Knokke-Heist, Belgium (2016). He was the subject of a major retrospective, Olivo Barbieri Images 1978 – 2014, at the MAXXI in Rome (2015).

A Tile, Some Milk, A Machine, and Logistics: Photographs of Emilia-Romana at Work
MAST Foundation, Bologna
May 4 - September 11, 2016

OLIVO BARBIERI | CENTRO CULTURAL RECOLETA, BUENOS AIRES

March 2 - April 3, 2016

IMMAGINI 1978 - 2014

A major retrospective that frames, through six sections and over 70 works, the diverse themes or areas of research around which Olivo Barbieri has developed his artistic work. Photographs and films illustrate the photographer's career from the late 1970s to the present.

OLIVO BARBIERI

RETROSPECTIVE AT MAXXI, ROME

May 28th - October 11th, 2015.

A major retrospective that frames, through six sections and over 70 works, the diverse themes or areas of research around which Olivo Barbieri has developed his artistic work. Photographs and films illustrate the photographer's career from the late 1970s to the present. Read more.

OLIVO BARBIERI, FOTOGRAFIA EUROPEA, REGGIO EMILIA

May 15 - July 26, 2015

Gathered from his travels through Europe, Japan, China, Cairo, and the US, the series ERSATZ LIGHTS represents Barbieri's night photography from the 1980s until now.

OLIVO BARBIERI PANEL TALK IN VANCOUVER

Olivo Barbieri will participate in the panel Photography and the City at the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at University of British Columbia on November 1 from 1-5pm. The panel will be moderated by ICP curator Christopher Phillips and include Barbieri, Greg Girard, Leo Rubinfien, and Guy Tillim.

JITKA HANZLOVA AND OLIVO BARBIERI AT THE TRIENNALE DI MILANO

Jitka Hanzlova and Olivo Barbieri are included in 2004–2014: The Museum of Contemporary Photography's ten years: works and projects, which celebrates the tenth anniversary of the museum, part of the Triennale di Milano. On view from July 3 - September 10, 2014.

OLIVO BARBIERI AT FONDAZIONE SANDRETTO

Works from Olivo Barbieri's Stadi series are included in the exhibition Calcio d'inizio at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebauden in Torino, Italy, through February 23, 2014.

OLIVO BARBIERI AT MUSEO D'ARTE CONTEMPORANEA ROMA

Work by Olivo Barbieri is included in the group exhibition NEON: La Materia Luminosa dell'Arte at the Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma, on display through November 4, 2012. Co-organized with Paris' Maison Rouge, the exhibition explores the concept of light and energy in the language of art.

OLIVO BARBIERI AT HUNTER COLLEGE

Work by Olivo Barbieri will be exhibited in a group show of Italian photograhers at Hunter College, opening February 3. The exhibition, Peripheral Visions: Italian Photography in Context, 1950s-Present, explores marginalized elements of the industrial Italian landscape. The exhibition is on view at the Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery at Hunter College through April 28, 2012.

GALLERY ARTISTS EXHIBITING IN "THE ALTERED LANDSCAPE" AT THE NEVADA MUSEUM OF ART

Gallery artists Olivo Barbieri, Mitch Epstein, and Victoria Sambunaris are included in The Altered Landscape: Photographs of a Changing Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art, opening September 24th and running through January 8, 2012.

OLIVO BARBIERI AT THE VENICE BIENNALE

Olivo Barbieri's site specific_CHICAGO 10 series is on display at the Venice Biennale (Italian Pavilion), through November 27. This is the third showing of the artist's work at the Biennale. Barbieri's new series The Dolomites Project was the subject of a solo show this spring at the Museo d'arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (MART), Italy.

OLIVO BARBIERI WORKS INCLUDED IN SFMOMA EXHIBITION / SOLO MUSEUM SHOW IN ITALY

Works from Olivo Barbieri's site specific_MONTREAL 04, and site specific_LAS VEGAS 05 will be on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in the upcoming exhibition ParaDesign, on view from February 25th to June 19, 2011.

OLIVO BARBIERI MUSEUM EXHIBITION IN ITALY

Olivo Barbieri will open an exhibition of new work at the Museo d'arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto on February 12 – May 1, 2011. The exhibition will feature a selection of images from Barbieri's DOLOMITES PROJECT 2010, as well as a film the artist made in that mountainous region of Northern Italy.

OLIVO BARBIERI INCLUDED IN VARIOUS EXHIBITIONS

Olivo Barbieri's spectacular ten panel 22 foot photograph "Shanghai, China" will be featured in the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago's upcoming exhibition Reversed Images: Representations of Shanghai and Its Contemporary Material Culture on view September 25 - December 23, 2009.